Contact: Zack Plair
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Entrepreneurs who are military veterans now have a new resource at Mississippi State to help get their businesses off the ground.
The university recently became one of five new locations for a Veterans Business Outreach Center that provides counseling, training and other resources to former service members seeking to launch their own commercial operations.
Designated to serve residents of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, the center is located next to campus in Suite 105D at 60 Technology Blvd. in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Park.
A grand opening is set for 11 a.m. Aug. 28 at its office in the business incubator, where U.S. Congressmen Gregg Harper and Trent Kelly, along with Small Business Administration Mississippi District Office Director Janita Stewart will be keynote speakers. MSU President Mark E. Keenum and MSU College of Business Dean Sharon Oswald also will speak.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is providing $825,000 over three years to fund the center, a partnership between the College of Business and its Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, along with MSU’s nationally recognized G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Center for America’s Veterans.
The SBA now supports 14 such facilities nationwide, said MSU center director Mark Scott, a U.S. Army veteran and former Raytheon Corp. employee who said his office already has assisted more than two dozen clients in some way since opening its doors in May.
“Our mission is to aid the veteran who is transitioning out of the service, or the veteran who is already out of the service and wants to start a new business,” Scott said. Though some may never launch a business, all who visit the VBOC should be better prepared for the process, he added.
“There’s more to opening a business than hanging up a shingle and opening your doors,” Scott emphasized. “There are considerations like employees, taxes, insurance and many other things. We provide a lot of free resources to these veterans that can help them through the process.”
While the VBOC provides no grants or other funding sources, Scott said the staff will do everything possible to help clients identify avenues for accessing capital, including navigation of the bank loan process. Those already helped have represented businesses ranging from a bar to a fitness gym, he noted.
Franchises also are popular entrepreneurial options since they provide a structured business environment—and some even offer veteran-specific discounts for franchise fees.
Scott said spreading the word is key to the center’s mission, and he and others on the staff are working hard to let all interested former service personnel in the region know about their location.
He said many referrals also likely will come from through the SBA’s “Boots to Business” program, a two-day course offered by the Armed Forces’ Transition Assistance Program for those leaving active service. Other related SBA programs will be directing individuals to Mississippi State, as, of course, will the university’s College of Business and Montgomery Veterans Center.
A land-grant institution established in 1878 with the U.S. Military Academy as a model, Mississippi State has a long history of service and commitment to veterans. In 2013, U.S. News and World Report ranked the university 29th on its elite list of the 52 best national higher education organizations for veterans, service members, dependents and survivors.
Allison Pearson, the business college’s Jim Rouse Endowed Professor in Management, said the center is an excellent fit for the land-grant institution’s ongoing service mission.
“It’s a great opportunity to combine synergies at MSU,” said Pearson, who was a co-principal on MSU’s grant application for VBOC funding.
“The strength that Mark brings to the outreach effort, as a veteran and businessman himself, provides a great combination for what we want to help our veterans accomplish,” Pearson said. “We’re excited about the opportunity.”
For more about the VBOC at MSU, visit, www.vboc.msstate.edu/~vboc/index.php. The telephone number is 662-325-4990; the email address, vboc@business.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s flagship research university, available online at www.msstate.edu.